Comedian Mike King says Sir Bob Jones' "social filter is broken" but he doesn't support a petition to strip the businessman and former politician of his knighthood after he wrote that a Maori Gratitude Day should be introduced in place of Waitangi Day.

"I don't think anyone should take seriously what Bob is saying. He's like that doddery old uncle whose social filter is now broken and he's saying out loud what most people would keep inside," King told 1 NEWS.

The column sparked a backlash online but King said: "I don't think anyone should be trolling him or giving him a hard time. What Bob really needs is our empathy and a warm bowl of custard."

For his part, Sir Bob is standing by his comments, saying he wrote a "perfectly factual thing" and maintained it's not racist.

He said "some things he said are undisputable" but some of what he'd said was a piss take and that he doesn't hate anyone.

He also said the petition is "infantile".

But while Sir Bob says some of what he wrote was satirical, Mike King said: "What the rest of the world classes as satire, in Bob's world is real."